Helping Baby Boomers to continue to earn income, as long as they want

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07/23/2017

Those engineering revolutions, at least successful ones, understand that. They hold off the big bangs until the situation is bad enough to elicit communal push-back.

That tipping point has come in the anti-Trump mass movement. It is now, yes, a revolution.

In this digital era, the old-line theatre in the street has migrated to screens. This Tuesday, Donald Trump is visiting here in the Youngstown, Ohio Metro area. Instead of disrupting in-person with an out of the box stage presence, my influence will have greater reach with tweeting and blogging.

As in all revolutions, in the anti-Trump one brandnames will be made. Has-beens will experience giant comebacks.

Baby Boomers weren't around for the American Revolution, of course. But we had the youthful energy to be totally a part of the Counterculture. For me it happened at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus, where I had been pursuing excellence in literature and linguistics. End of that story.

Once no-name Jerry Rubin became the name. Even I, low-level player, had my photo featured in retail along a second-tier street in that university town. My hair was down to my waist. My face was angry. (One takeaway from that time, which lawyers with poker faces have down cold, is that smiling is a defensive tactics. Not-smiling brings the unique edge.)

Professors who hadn't been appointed full professors at the University of Michigan (death in the academic community) had access to a second life. They took on the mantle of radical politics. Some went on to become speechwriters for liberal politicos. All seemed to have re-gained a sense of self.

Similar dynamics are happening now, of course.

Invisible lawyers who had labored in the vineyard monkishly are putting together an identity on social media. That can open new kinds of career-oriented doors.

Those who already have a brandname in legal journalism, such as Abovethelaw.com's Joe Patrice, have become must-reads. His first career path had been in BigLaw. More and more of the anti-Trump initiatives are associated with the law.

Those who had faded from the political scene, like Jeb Bush, are back. Depending on how they configure this return to a higher profile, they could get their ticket punched in amazing ways.

Meanwhile, the former conservative digital news site Drudge Report keeps upping its influence - and page views. That's by an OCD approach to curating the revolution.

It's funny: Matt Drudge started out as Trumpism cheerleader. He was really waving those pom-poms during Campaign 2016. Even conducted polls during the debates as to the winner. Of course, The Donald always came up on top in those.

History might remember the Drudge Report as the analogue of Rolling Stone for the anti-Trump upheaval.

Patrice could have a talk show.

Bush could run for leader of the not-so-free world in 2020.

Me? This weekend I had an inquiry to fly out-of-town and audition for a book ghostwriting opportunity.

Reflection: Revolutions, like shoot-em-up wars, are platforms for professional upward mobility.

07/21/2017

And then there is the attempt to connect with external audiences by those we classify as establishment businesses or old-line companies. We all know who they are.

The cool companies will become more cool.

The bunglers could go out of business. In this over-communicated era communications is everything.

So, how can old-line companies engage? Practically foolproof is what can be thought of as The Smirk Test.

Those who keep missing the points of connection in their communications have to ask: Would this website, blog post, email, e-book, investor report or employee handbook make Millennials and members of Generation Z smirk?

The smirk has become the ultimate way of signalling what's out of touch.

In a recent episode of "Criminal Minds," a serial killer is whacking families of those attending a local high school. When the various authority figures (of course, not including members of the elite FBI team) come in to conduct a briefing with the students, the smirking is contagious.

Yes, old-line companies could and should set up The Smirk Swat Team throughout their outreach functions and to be liaisons with their public relations and marketing agencies.

07/15/2017

Personal lawyer for Donald Trump - Marc Kosowitz - looks foolish. He lost it the way a father of a teenager does about a petty matter. Those observing all that smirk.

Instead of responding to annoying communication in a profanity-laden manner, Koswitz could have thrown shade - that is, show his contempt for that other person - in ways that did not position and package him as just another self-important hot head.

Here are 4 hacks:

SAY THANK YOU. The phrase "thank you" is the stand-alone put-down for any perceived slight or even injustice. I learned that from a monk in Arizona who counseled those of us with a short fuse.

His recommendation is to search for that mid point between doing nothing and letting it all out. There sits the universal neutralizer: the phrase "thank you." Automatically, it shuts down the communication.

For example, a reader of my blog post on aging professionals, which had gone viral, sent an unsolicited link to The Economist on the subject of aging. Annoying. I went to that mid point and emailed back "thank you." Smoothly I exited that communications loop.

MOVE GAME TO DIFFERENT PLAYING FIELD. Instead of going head-to-head, smart businesspeople simply identify a position of strength outside that context. One classic example was how upstart Pepsi took on established Coca-Cola by making cola available in retail in larger sizes. The incumbent was sticking with small bottles. Another was how upstart GM produced autos in other colors than that of the Ford Model-T.

Kasowitz could have published on op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on the issue. He could have appeared on a late night show and made a joke of it. Or, he could have brought in a third party to have the miscreant appear nutty.

SIGNAL END TO THE STORY. Technology is a major tool for sending the message that we are finished with this particular saga. Email and calls on smartphones can be blocked. Settings for comments on blogs can be set for screening before posting. Contacts on social networks such as LinkedIn can be deleted and messages can be clicked as "unread." We can terminate membership in communities such as I did with LinkedIn's Leadership Communicators Roundtable, headed by Dana Rubin.

In person, there are the we-mean-business phrases such as "You can stop this conversation and leave or we can contact security/police."

IGNORE SUNK COSTS. In commercial relationships, there are usually the sunk costs. We might have invested eight months supposedly nurturing networking with a professional who turns out to be a type of public nuisance. So? Enduring the current inner turmoil isn't worth attempting to preserve the investment.

Frequently what we discover after writing off all that as a brutal learning experience is that that we have over-estimated what the payoff could have been. In the future, we make wiser investments.

07/09/2017

Last Friday, two former googlers (as Google employees are called) presented to Shark Tank.

Their startup used the paid subscription model for an educational product for kids.

Monthly in snail mail comes a coding lesson positioned and packaged with Crayola-like graphic excitement. The price point for each monthly subscription ranges from $20 go $40. The subscription can be cancelled at any time.

The sharks didn't fund the venture. The main reason for the rejection didn't seem to be the paid subscription model. Rather the googlers seemed to lack business skills. The one offer they received they quibbled about and the shark swam away.

But those of us who are assessing the paid subscription business model wondered if the googlers were handling the paid-subscription model right and, more on point, should that have been how they intended to generate the lion's share of revenue, at least right now.

Entrepreneur reports the positives on the subscription model. Recent earnings show that the New York Times Inc. is faring better in revenue because of its paid digital subscriptions.

But, the Entrepreneur article also hammers that those using it must structure it right and keep adapting it. A failure on that end had been Blockbuster.

On tech online panel show "Gillmor Gang," the experts argue about paid subscriptions. For instance, should Medium adopt that model or will making readers pay for access kill it off?

Recently, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, which operates on a paid subscription basis, was shuttered. Abovehthelaw.com, which uses advertising and other kinds of profit centers, continues to thrive.

Most of us individual bloggers do not have a paywall, that is, require a paid subscription. Yet, those blogs can serve a commercial purpose. For me, they are a business development tool. Also they function as a profit center since I am a paid influencer. In addition, they provide platforms for networking.

06/28/2017

That's what a member of the Class of 1967 at Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, confessed to me that first night in the dorm.

We were sharing a tin of homemade fudge. Both of us were well on our way to the Freshman 15, that is, the usual weight gain.

"I didn't either."

That's what I replied. With a smirk. I was going to be the class's free-thinker.

"And, I'm not here to marry a dentist." That's what I added. The college was all-woman. Roman Catholic, too.

I kept that resolution. I never did get married.

Instead I wound up an early adopter of blogging. I covered a four-month trial about the alleged harm done to inner city children by the lead paint manufacturers such as Sherwin-Williams.

In addition, I tended bar on Calle San Francisco in Barcelona, Spain.

I instructed those contemplating dental tourism in Mexico to get a second opinion about being told their crowns needed replacement.

There were a million downloads of the e-book on how I lost everything.

Currently I am thinking about establishing an institute for comebacks.

As was typical in those days, the thick envelope sent to incoming freshmen had a multi-page list of books that had to be not only read but thought about deeply before arrival on campus.

For the Class of 2021, the to-dos that last summer before taking on the tough job of trying to grow up should include:

Becoming fluent in a foreign language. Preferably Mandarin. That's what more and more help-wanted require. Three months spent in the part of China where Mandarin is spoken would be on the money.

Starting to feel comfortable around a common computer language. The objective is to be at home.

Picking up the resume buzzwords for the chosen career path. Soon enough they will be applying for an internship and have to position and package themselves just right.

When it comes to books, those in the know pay attention to the first 50 pages. That's enough to get their heads around the idea and any new buzzwords being introduced. Language was and still is everything.

There are exceptions to required reading. For example, I would recommend that the Class of 2021 do all of Peter Thiel's "Zero to One." That would provide a head start on putting together a billion-dollar enterprise in their dorm rooms.

Youth shouldn't be wasted in achieving good grades.

My clients who achieved grades good enough to get them into medical and law school regret that whole enchilada. Those industries have changed so much. Had they to do it over again they would have started a business, any kind, when they had the endurance to pull serial all nighters.

Me?

My "bad attitude," as the nuns in charge labeled it, brought me the work I love. I still am doing all-nighters to turn around ghostwriting assignments.

06/26/2017

The world knows: The University of Delaware will not renew the contract of adjunct professor of anthropology - Katherine Dettwyler.

That institution of higher learning stated: Her negative comments on Facebook about Otto Warmbier did not reflect its values.

Of course, the lawyers are wondering if the U of Delaware's decision was legal. After all, when she posted her diatribe against supposedly rich white men such as Warmbier, she was not, at that time, employed by the university.

But, there is the common sense matter that the line between the private and the professional selves currently is blurred. Maybe it always was.

From the get-go of social media, my colleagues in ghostwriting who worked for large corporations knew they had to be circumspect. On their blogs, for example, they stuck to subjects such as how to create a thought leadership essay that would resonate. The sandbox they played in was very small.

In good-old print days, when employed full time by a major auto company, I knew not to identify it or make any negative references to its business in my articles for The Wall Street Journal.

The parameters of free speech often aren't aligned with professional success. That's exactly why many professionals hire media coaches. They have to learn to navigate public discourse without damaging the interests of stakeholders. That's also exactly why most organizations have carefully trained media representatives.

Sure, there may be a right to free speech. But there can be an economic cost. Perhaps that shouldn't be the situation. But it usually is.

"But, my child, that has been the gift that keeps giving. Look at you now. All the markers scream success. Your blood pressure is that of a kid. Your communications boutique is thriving. Your unhinged rescue dog is calm. And, despite the PTS flashbacks from growing up on the mean streets of Jersey City, New Jersey, you like yourself."

Let's cut to the chase.

We are living longer. So, all that conventional wisdom about cherishing old friendships may be absolutely wrong. When I was age 69, that crazy adage got me in an emotional pickle.

That story, though, has a happy ending.

Three years ago this month I dumped Seton Hill University, Greensburg, Pennsylvania Class of '67 college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner.

I also had the dump truck stop in North Carolina to pick up Lee Harrison and Philly to load Irene Nunn.

It took about three months after that to connect the dots. But that I did. Today, at age 72, everything is going my way and that of my dog LOV (Lily of the Valley.)

Needless to say, there is no pull of nostalgia to attend the 50th College Reunion. The one in 2014 inflicted enough of a terrifying epiphany.

Back then, my business was flat. I was having a rough time accepting aging. Should that explain why a sensible professional woman should have reached back decades? No. But I did just that. Nonono. Shame on me.

Were Huebner et al. Alpha or It Girls in high school? They seemed to understand, just like It Girls, how to throw others into the vortex of confusion. Or maybe I was just especially vulnerable at the time.

On the surface, their interaction on Facebook, email and the iPhone seemed like good intentions. However, I have concluded that I experienced all that help as an ambush. And, isn't that all that matters? My perception? After all, I am in the business of perception.

In Tucson, Arizona, for example, where Huebner and I were residing at the time, she was a busy bee with advice. Unrequested.

The tipping point was this: On the public forum of Facebook, Huebner posted where I could purchase low-cost sunglasses.

Why low-cost?

Why not designer?

And, why sunglasses?

At that time in my life, I had more urgent priorities. Those ranged from rebuilding my communications boutique to socializing a troubled rescue dog.

Every May, until I pass over to that Great Microsoft Office Software in the sky, I will celebrate this anniversary.

It took that ordeal to get me straight about the perils of reunions with people we probably never really knew and whom we shouldn't let into our little lives in the present. Instead, we should be open the world, always moving forward. Isn't reaching back a signal that we have become closed systems?

05/04/2017

Queen Elizabeth, age 91, doesn't seem to have any immediate plans to retire.

It's Prince Philip, age 95, who will throw in the career towel.

Does that put in play a trend: 95 is the new retirement age for world/business leaders?

At 21st Century Fox, Rupert Murdoch is 86. Should it be expected that Murdoch will continue to rule that empire for 9 more years?

Here are the details on this development among the royals in USA Today.

Both members of the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomer one know that retirement can render former professionals invisible. Since they are no longer part of the "system" they cease to be of direct use to other strivers.

So, they are disappeared. On Facebook, they post cute photos of the grandchildren and exotic plants in southwestern Arizona where they relocated. We roll our eyes. We duck them at social events.

Yesterday, I was 72 years old.

That's a milestone in my family which carries a suicide gene. No one else had made it there.

Also, it marks the second big comeback in my business since the turn of the century. I have generated more money in 2017, so far, than I had for any entire year since 2001.

I plan to keep developing content and being a paid influencer until I am 100. Then I will travel with my BFF from graduate school days - Kass Prezio. Likely I will pick up paid assignments covering the places visited.

Prezio and I are hoping that, by then, the price of commercial space flights is affordable.

05/01/2017

Both Donald Trump, president, and Reince Priebus, chief of staff at the White House, have alluded to this possibility: gutting or even eliminating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Here, lawyer-journalist Kathryn Rubino at Abovethelaw.com, provides the details. No surprise, already Rubino's post has received heavy traffic, including the Shares.

This is serious. Nothing to make fun of on "SNL." If it comes to pass, there may be no "SLN." And bloggers like myself will find ourselves back in the world of 1950s safe platitudes. It's not premature to research relocating abroad.

We know well the Trump Administration's war on media. His wife's defamation lawyer is Charles Harder. That's the Harder who won the $140 million jury award against rogue Gawker to invading Hulk Hogan's privacy. He also did well for Mrs. Trump. Among his causes is changing defamation law so that it is easier to sue media.

Given the myriad wealthy backers of the Trump Administration, there are the resources to keep this movement against the First Amendment going until completion. Money can make it happen.

Consequently, forget experimenting in the arts. The progress going on will be stopped cold. An example of that progress: Even on television, the usual standard cop-show formulas are being tampered with. "White Collar" has a former crook on the team.

Eventually fashion will no longer be able to celebrate the body. Non-fiction will become Disney-type tales about how raw individualism makes the world a whole lot better place. And poetry will have to move underground to the Dark Web.